Outnumbered, Belgium count on Brazilian fans

This is as close to ‘rent-a-crowd’ that the World Cup will come. And it won’t cost Belgium anything. Expected to be outnumbered by tens of thousands of Argentina fans at Saturday’s quarter-final at the 70,000-capacity Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots stoked a regional rivalry to suit his ends. “The Brazilians expect only one thing and that is that we beat the Argentinians,” Wilmots said on Thursday, referring to a long and sometimes bitter rivalry between the neighboring football giants.

And after ploughing head-first into the fiery debate, he quickly added: “But I am not getting into that issue.”

Brazil’s rivalry with Argentina goes beyond sports, with each side boasting about their country at every opportunity. Belgian fans travelled in their thousands to group games, adding patches of bright red in the grandstands. But since planning for the knockout stages is fraught with uncertainty, far fewer were at the second round game against the United States in Salvador, and fewer still are expected on Saturday. “We are proud to see our colours in the stadium. But if they are 2 or 2,000, it is not a problem. We are used to hostile environments,” Wilmots said. “The more Belgian backers the merrier, but we will also get a lot of Brazilian backing,” he said.

Players have already received a boost by seeing the wild scenes of support back home, where the backing for the Red Devils is unprecedented. In its group stage matches, Argentina felt like it was playing at home, with tens of thousands of travelling Argentines wearing the team’s colours .

But in the round of 16 match against Switzerland in Sao Paulo, the Argentines found themselves outnumbered, and at times drowned out by Brazilian fans who can’t stay neutral when their Latin American rival is playing.The Brazilians booed and whistled when Argentina had the ball and shouted “Ole” when the Swiss strung a few passes together.